Carfagna's Ristorante — Restaurant in Columbus

Look, I've been a big fan of Carfagna's market for years. I've gone to their old market location more times than I can count but I've never dined in with them before, even at their old location. With the insanely high amount of reviews and a high rating at their new location, I was not prepared to be this disappointed by their food at all.

To make things worse, I was entertaining some customers & guests who wanted to dine in the Polaris area, and thought this was a safe bet. So, I was no doubt embarrassed for selecting this spot. Four of us had each ordered our individual pastas, and they were straight up bad. My gnocchi in pesto was bland and gnocchi pieces were tough. I couldn't justify the prices they were charging for a plate of pasta either. I thought maybe it was probably my dish that didn't come out impressive but found out later that my guests too, were not impressed with their pasta dishes at all. One of them was the pasta in vodka sauce. My guest describe it as being so bland and diluted they could probably cook a jar of store-bought vodka sauce and it would have been much more satisfying.

Service was subpar - they also messed up my order and completely forgot to include the chicken that I ordered until I asked about it. Their only saving grace was the decor & ambiance. There's a nice large bar, separated, and the restaurant being connected to their grocery store is a great idea to attract diners to check out their store offerings as a post or pre-meal activity.

Unfortunately, very disappointed with my experience here and also very confused with the ratings and reviews on this location.

For those who rely on reviews & ratings, hear me out: I noticed that reviews on this listing also has Raising Cane's reviews mixed in. From my search online, a Columbus Dispatch article seems to put the opening of this place to be around Sept/Oct 2021. My dinner visit (late May 2023) is more than 1.5 years since they opened, yet Cane's is still the highest-mentioned keyword reviews for this location. So I'm guessing it was probably an old Google Maps listing for Cane's that got taken over by Carfagna's, which might explain why the reviews are numerous and that the ratings could be misleading and imho, ought to be taken with a grain of salt. Just genuinely curious here as to why my experience didn't live up to the reviews—happy to be proven wrong.

All in all, not entirely sure what's going on but with the mismatch of experience vs reviews, but solely on my dining experience there, I unfortunately, cannot recommend this place at all and I'm very hesitant to return. Their adjacent grocery store, however, is still top notch in my eyes—THAT I'll be returning for and can no...

I did a call-ahead the day before I actually went in because I thought Carfagna's Kitchen did a call-ahead. However when I called them, I got a response saying that I cannot do a call-ahead because it was first come first serve. So, when I arrived to the restaurant, the wait was an hour, which was totally fine I guess considering everyone writes a good review about this restaurant and because of that, many people come in to eat. The thing that made me upset though is they did a call-ahead. I saw a lady answering the phone and writing the person's name and number.

Whatever I guess. Even though I was a little upset because of that incident, I still went to this restaurant the next day because it has good reviews. Well, it turns out the restaurant was just so different from what people have said in the reviews. First, the foods were not great. I ordered unsweetened tea and Chicken Marsala with Vodka Spaghetti and Caesar Salad. Tea were great. I mean who can really mess up tea. After tea, Caesar Salad came out with a dressing in a cup. However, Caesar Salad was just too small, and the bacon bits it had were not bacon at all. At least, they did not taste like bacon in my opinion. The breads they gave me were drenched in oil and herbs, which I did not like at all because my hands got really messy after two. They could have done much better job if they put the oil in a cup like they did with Caesar Salad dressing, but I guess not. Chicken Marsala after them was rather disappointing because the chicken was too chewy and thick, and the sauce it was covered with was just too much. The sauce was not even great to start with. Vodka Spaghetti as a side was too bland considering how it looked, and it costed $1.5 more than other sauces, which I did not know about before ordering them since the waiter did not tell me about it at all. And about the waiter, he asked me if I wanted more tea when I just finished the first one. Really? He asked me if I wanted more tea after one tea? I did not order tea just to drink one cup and throw away my money for it. After three cups, I would have understood, but that was not it. After all that, the total was not bad because I used a coupon, but it was still pricey. I would have rather had my dinner somewhere else.

Overall, my experience with this restaurant was depressing, and I do not plan to come back even if they pay me to eat there again.

TL;DR Go to Carrabba's

EDIT: Carrabba's was definitely cheaper and affordable as a fine Italian restaurant than Carfagna's like 3-4 years ago. Now, they are both expensive and not really great anymore. I would totally try to find a different Italian restaurant...

I have never experienced the embarrassment that I experienced at the market of this establishment. My spouse and I decided to go shopping in the marketplace being that it was somewhere New I was highly excited to try out the different things they had to offer. While shopping in the market my husband decided to visit the liquor store that’s located Inside the market . He wanted a bottle of vodka and decided to purchase from there while I was checking out the dessert aisle. I decided that I would surprise him with a bottle of rum as well,he went to the car to to put our purchased items away and I entered into the liquor store when I walked in I was looking for the rum aisle and I eventually found it. They had a bottle of rum that came from the country that I was born and I reached into my purse to take out my wallet and my phone and was going to walk towards the entrance to see if my spouse had came back in yet. I was stopped by an employee and asked if I put something in my bag being very surprised and disgusted, I answered him why don’t you check. I put my bag on the counter and at this point 2 other employees approached me. when I asked why would I put some thing in my bag another employee informed me that they were watching me and they seen that I took up a bottle of liquor but never put it back . I ask did you guys go and check to see if you’re missing a bottle of liquor she informed me no, I opened my bag and to their surprise there was nothing inside. I informed them that I was actually coming to purchase a bottle of liquor which would’ve been my second one since my husband bought vodka less than 3 min ago they had little to say I had everyone in the store staring at me and I can only feel like this was discrimination because I cannot see them approaching anyone else this way. No one called to apologize or follow up with this defamation of character that I experienced. This is America where we are All shapes and colors and if I had taken out my phone and video this altercation I’m almost sure you would have protesters and people boycotting your store I truly think you should be ashamed that your employees display this type of behavior under your brand and you took no...